Kerala-based artist and left-social worker Durga Malathi says the accusations that she hurt Hindu sentiments by her paintings are not true. Ever since the controversy sketches were circulated on social media, she has received rape, death threats.

An artist, Durga from Kerala, on the receiving end of severe abuse on social media since she drew a religious hurting cartoons in support of the Kathua rape victim, had stones thrown at her house in Palakkad district on Thursday night.

The artist, Durga Malathi, had sketched images of religious symbols, such as the trident, that resembled male genitalia smeared in blood. The sketches were widely circulated on social media, attracting heavy abuse.

Ms. Malathi says the accusations that she hurt Hindu sentiments is not by any mean.

"These drawings are not about religious symbols like Trishul, but about how the rapists think with their genitals. That's why in the Kathua victim's case she was raped inside a temple. These are men who think, act and play politics with their genitals. I am being accused of hurting Hindu sentiments. That is not true. It's not about Hindu religion at all," Durga Malathi said.

"They have brutally raped me - verbally. This is sexual harassment. What happened in Kathua is purely communal. They wanted to drive away the Bakrawal community. And that's why my pictures are against the Brahmins. Now, people are twisting it and giving other meaning. I have received death and rape threats in last few days. I have also filed a police complaint," the artist said.

Malathi, who is an artist and a teacher residing in Palakkad district, shared the paintings with religious symbols and male genitalia, which garnered attention for its "offensive nature." In the post, Malathi expressed concern over people who “think, pray and talk politics” with their "genitals taking control of the nation."

A Hindu organisation also filed a case against artist Durga Malathi for hurting the religious sentiments through her paintings. But no action has been taken from the authorities yet.

The Kerala Police have filed a complaint against unidentified men for throwing stones at artist Durga Malathi's house.

“We have registered a case and identified some of the assailants,” a senior police officer from Palakkad district said to local media.

Hindustan Times reported that Malathi as saying she would not be stifled by the act of violence. “They threatened me with dire consequences if I draw more pictures and paintings depicting the plight of the victim. They said my drawings and paintings hurt their sentiments. But they can’t stifle me like this,” she said in a post in Malayalam.

According to Deccan Herald report that miscreants threw stones at Malathi's house on Thursday evening. The window panes of the artist's house and a jeep parked in the compound were damaged after the attack.

An eight-year-old girl, from a nomadic Muslim nomadic community at Kathus in Jammu and Kashmir was drugged, held captive in a local temple premises, raped and tortured for a week before being strangled and battered to death with stone four months before.

The charge-sheet accused eight persons of conspiring, brutalising and murdering the girl and revealed chilling details that triggered nationwide outrage.

Prohibitory orders have been imposed for a week in parts of Kerala after reports of possible violence after the Kathua gang rape incident, police said. This comes in the wake of large-scale violence in parts of Kozhikode, during the 16 April hartal, which was also observed in other places, over the Kathua incident.